Friday, July 07, 2006

Some Thoughts On Very Modified Food June

Very Modified Food June is now simply, July. Some of you are wondering what my thoughts on it are and how it all turned out. Hence, this post.

The Rules of Very Modified Food June

If I put in x amount of energy toward feeding myself, feeding myself in June cannot take up more than x+(1/2x), if you know what I mean.

No animal products if I can help it. (Is that veggie burger vegan? I'm not going to worry about it.)

No living on tater tots. Living on tater tots is fun, but bad form. And the tater tots must be baked, not fried. *sigh*

No coffee. Tea is okay.

No alcohol.

Eat a green "salad" of some sort every day. If I can shove it in a bun, fine.

50% of what I eat must be raw, hopefully organic.

I am not allowed to eat an entire can/box of olives in one sitting. Bad girl.

Same goes for nuts.

Drink at least 2 glasses of water a day (not from the tap)

Avoid processed sugar

Do not flip out at the boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot

Tough, eh?

The Application of the Rules

Well, everything went well at first. I was being consistently vegan with a high ratio of raw to cooked foods, but I was not eating organic. I had a terrible caffeine withdrawal headache, but I persevered.

Encouraged by this I tried to add another rule:

13. No potato chips

I lasted less than a day. I ate an entire jumbo bag of kettle-style chips.

The very next day (June 6th) I succumbed to some cornbread that contained dairy (Rule #2), but it was only one piece. Nevertheless, it got worse.

On June 7th I shamelessly drank a glass of merlot (Rule #5). However, I made up for it the next night by sitting through an entire Knit 'n Sip at an Irish pub without drinking anything alcoholic. Also on June 7th I had a croissant for breakfast (Rule #2).

The good behavior regarding Rule #5 did not last long, though. June 16th I had a tenative half glass of merlot, and on June 27th I got really cocky and had a beer. this was immediately followed by something about running out of merlot. (I am having trouble remembering much about that bottle, so we can just assume that my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot was responsible for drinking it up, ok?) And then on the 30th I was so brazenly comfortable with violating Rule #5 that I even bought a lime for my Corona. (Premeditated, that.)

The Analysis

There were strengths, and there were weaknesses. I never applied Rule #10, the two glasses of water a day. Nor did I really make an effort to eat organic (Rule #7, Part 2), although I suspect that because I was shopping for vegan food at Whole Foods my microwave meals were organic. (I was looking at the "vegan' label more than the "organic".)

Avoiding coffee (Rule #4) has turned out to be relatively easy. (I'm drinking decaf now, and only when I go to the coffeehouse on the weekends or for S'nB.) Unexpectedly, I did not try to overdo the tater tots (Rule #3) or olives (Rule #8), although there was a close call last week with a bag of raw pine nuts (Rule #9). Avoiding processed sugar (Rule #11) was rather easy since most of the desserts I had used fruit sweeteners or were made my me. Happily, I did not flip out at my significant other (Rule #12). Rule #1 also seemed to go off without a hitch.

The touchy area seems to be alcohol (wine, beer). Apparently I like red wine much, much more than I like eel sushi, pizza, or a nice brie, and I am perfectly willing to eat vegan Mexican food if I can have a Corona with it.

I did not lose any weight.

What Now

I have already eaten fish a couple times since the 1st of July, but I find myself oddly reluctant to have anything other than a vegan lunch, and most dinners are still vegan. I think it grew on me. I'll most likely keep everything I eat at home vegan and deviate when I am out about half the time, which is quite a change from my lacto-ovo-fish-veggie lifestyle previously.

I am also finding a decaf soy latte twice or three times a week an adequate substitute. My coffee edge is gone and I like it that way. (It hasn't altered my sleep patterns in any way, however.)

I am drinking less, but the fact that it is summertime makes it more difficult. A cold brewski after a 25 minute walk home in the heat and humidity always sounds awfully good.

2 comments:

gotta give you props, man. I do all sorts of mental gymnastics around my food, but you REALLY took on a lot all at once. In the end, I think the goal is peace and good health. Hopefully you'll have that whatever way it shakes out.